A couple of weeks ago, John had been on one of his walks and came back with several of these walnuts (we were at another park then). He laid them out on the picnic table outside of the rig to dry.

For those not knowing about black walnuts. They have a different taste (really good) then regular walnuts and are a lot more expensive, that is when you can find them in the market. 

The walnut trees need the cold winters to produce their fruit. The nuts fall from these huge trees, looking a lot like green lemons; they smell like them also! They are also the same size of lemons.

The nuts must dry to get them out of their shells. They come straight from the tree with a coat on. This green outer coating is like the skin on citrus fruit. It is approximately the thickness of the peel of a naval orange, and it must be taken off before the nut shell proper can be seen. This happens after the green skin softens and turns black, at that time it is easy to tear the blackened area of the nut off. After that the nut must continue to dry so that it will shrink and be easier to remove from the shell.  

As I was saying, John laid his walnuts (in their green coats, some already black and soft, some still green) onto the table outside. The next day he plays with them, repositioning them, rubbing off the dark coat on some; in general just admiring his cache.

A couple of days later, he notices that all of the nuts are gone, with just the black leavings left on the table. He had been robbed!

After noticing that they were gone, he asks me if I had taken his nuts! Of course, I had not, but keeping a straight face, I mention to him that I had noticed gray squirrels scampering around the trees that were close behind us and on the green grass areas near us.

It was funny, he had provided a ready source of nuts for the squirrels; and they were quick to take advantage of the situation! He, of course, didn’t see the humor in it. Poor guy, and he was so looking forward to eating those nuts.

I am sorry that I didn’t think to take a picture of those nuts lying on the table. I could have shown them to you. Oh well.

Mid-morning the other day, John asked me if I was ready to go - go where, I reply. He then reminded me of the little adventure that we had planned on taking, ie, going to gather wild black walnuts!

So we gather up some stuff; a big huge brown bag (with handles), a small pail, and a large five gallon empty paint bucket. We pile into the car and head off to the wild part of the RV park. This is a wooded area that is only used for hiking and fun. We drove down a country lane, mostly just two dirt tracks with weeds growing up the center. After a bit we came to some black things lying on the road, all smashed up. John declares that those are the walnuts.

Oh, now this is my kind of fun! I tramped through the brush, into and up the other side of the ditch (no water) to get closer to the tree, but find out that most of the nuts are in the ditch and in the road and on the other side of the road. It was like a treasure hunt. Sounds silly, but I had a lot of fun. We would drive from one tree to the next, watching for the nuts in the road to locate where the gold was! We came away with all of our containers filled.

Before:

After:  

Thankfully I had the forethought to wear my jeans, as the brush had lots of things to snag and cut us. John wearing shorts, had several deep scratches on his legs.

John spent part of the next day, cleaning the outer skins off of the nuts. He did this by dumping them on the ground and stomping on them, grinding them into the ground. He sure had a mess! Then he picked up the black nuts and laid them on the picnic table Then raked the ground clear of the black leftovers. The nuts that were now lying on the table sort of look like a peach pit that is black, though they were rounder then a pit. Now they have to dry so the meat inside will shrink and make it possible to get it out of the shell.

To learn more about black walnuts go to my post telling about a spot of humor concerning black walnuts.

Hopefully the squirrels won’t discover the table covered with the nuts.

I woke up this morning and thought to myself, who knows what this new day will bring; what new adventure! With that in mind, I completed my morning routine and then wondered out into the kitchen to start my day.

With that vitalizing thought, I decided to take a little stroll in the great outdoors. I retrieved the trash can from under the kitchen sink, tied up the bag and then bravely stepped out of the RV. This being a new park to me, I had no idea what awaited me out there. I get lost easily so I do not venture very far from the rig on my first time out. I get braver with each trip out. Some of these parks can be huge.

So I step out and am greeted by this strange air that I could see. I thought for a moment that I had been transported back in time to Fontana, California where I spent my teenage years; where we could also see the air, only then it was black and smelled strange, unpleasant and was called smog. The air was cool, but not cold - just the way I liked it!

The air this morning was white and very wet, it smelled good, full of the hint of rain, full of water, (fog I do believe) tiny drops that landed on me as I followed the lane/roadway to the large green trash dumpster that all RV parks have scattered throughout their parks. The sky was overcast holding the promise of rain soon to fall

On the way, I took time to enjoy the trip. The trees! Their color had finally started changing here in North Caroline, and was giving a good show. So much of the East has been dry this year; to dry for mother nature to put on her wonderful fall coat; covering the trees and other plants of the areas in glorious color. That was the reason given for the lack of the beautiful reds, golds & oranges of the fall leaves, by the residents of the areas that we have been traveling through, anyway’s.

I stopped to gather a few leaves, a handful of gold & red treasures that I would put in my three inch thick RV Camping site guide book to dry, so I could enjoy them during a less fun time of the year.

I looked up and saw the beautiful colorful trees and wondered how I could possibly have forgotten what the names of these trees were. Oh, I know a maple, a oak, but the rest have become just a lost memory. I must get a book on trees, or maybe the Internet has that information stored somewhere - does anyone out there know a web site for such?

No one was up and about, or at least not outside, it was quiet and peaceful on my stroll, no dog barking, no vehicles moving, I enjoyed it tremendously! No wonder John likes to take his walk so early in the morning! He’s a smart man! What a great way to start my day!

Now if I am lucky I will be able to go back there and get a picture of a couple of those beautiful trees that will do them justice! 

 

Well, just as I suspected, it was to overcast to benefit from the sunlight brightening the trees, but it sure was pretty out there.

Yes, I am back - after what seems like months!  I am back to try to blog once again, after having my keyboard die. I think that that(dying) might have had something to do with dumping a cup a few drops of coffee on it. Now armed with a new cheap plug in type keyboard (actually I like this one better then the old wireless one - that gave me problems right from the beginning), I am ready to try once again!

I usually IM with my sister a lot; and since the keyboard died she has been whining and whining about me being to cheap frugal to go and get a new one!

Well, in defense of myself, I had to see if I could magically fix this old one (this maneuver consisted of staring at it, cussing it, sweet talking to it, blowing canned air into it) this went on until my sweet husband took me down to Staples where we bought a new keyboard! (actually he got tired of hearing me complain about the darn broken one)

I have found out that I can get a heck of a lot more “things” accomplished without the computer being so readily accessible! I couldn’t log on to any program (no keyboard) (I could play some limited games) all I could use was the IM - that is if I used the pen writing tool - using the mouse to write with is a real challenge - yes I did that for a while, (I had to do something to shut up the whiner) no wonder that little kids make such scrawling marks as they learn to use a pencil.

While I have been computerless so to speak, I have gone through books like they are candy - yes I am a very fast reader - and no I won’t remember what the story was about next week if you ask me about it, but I will remember the story if I try to read it again!

I even did a few housecleaning chores that I have been putting off; defrosted the freezer section of the frig, spot cleaned the carpet, re-arranged everything in some of my cupboards and closets; this has to be done frequently in a moving house like I live in; things have a way of moving around when we make a harder stop or go around a corner on two wheels - well it feels like two wheels sometimes, but with a vehicle 36 feet long that probably would be a great accomplishment. Oh oh, I can just feel John getting irritated at that remark. Hee Hee Love that man!

Well speaking of John, he just asked me if I want to go and gather some black walnuts with him so I will post this now - I am off to the great out doors!

A IM conversation with my sister! Annie is her doggy.

aleta says:

Did you see what I said about Annie about her acting strange?

Patti says:

no

Patti says:

what is she doing

aleta  says:

there are times when she wont go in my room , she just slinks around here with her ears laid back and her tail between her legs

Patti says:

sounds like a ghost is there

aleta  says:

she’ll go to Dan and stare at him

Patti says:

does the hair on the back of your neck raise

aleta  says:

last night she didnt want to stay in my room she kept wanting to go into the front room

Patti says:

he hasn’t been mean to her? No of course not!

aleta says:

no he isnt cause she goes up to him for petting or just to irritate him ho ho

Patti says:

something in your room put some white candles in there and burn them a lot I understand (from somewhere) that that keeps the spooks away.

aleta  says:

when i got home the other night it smelled like something dead in my bathroom

Patti says:

make sure your bedroom windows are locked especially at night, does she whine

aleta says:

no she just looks around

Patti says:

oh this is scary

aleta says:

did i tell you about the worms coming out of the faucet in dans bathroom

Patti says:

Maybe you should get a priest to come out there and look around

Patti says:

tell me about the worms

aleta says:

they dont do that

aleta  says:

the worms looked like those things that fall out of the trees , just a 1/4 inch long and dark

aleta  says:

squiggly things

Patti says:

evil!

Patti says:

Call ghost busters!

Patti says:

white candles, crosses get them up

aleta  says:

there is a hole in the bathtub faucet underneath, one day we came home and dan said mom come and look at this

aleta  says:

they were falling out by the gobs

Patti says:

now that sounds like a pretty sight what did you do?

aleta says:

must have been a hundred of them just like some scarey movie

aleta  says:

dan took the back off of the faucet and sprayed a can of Raid in there and they went away havent seen any since

aleta  says:

this place has more bugs than in …….

Patti says:

what other strange things have been happening there?

aleta says:

thats about it other than the worms in the pantry which i think we got rid of

aleta says:

they were moth larvae, tons of moths around here . sprayed real good and keep the doors closed with duck tape

aleta  says:

i sure thought this house was the perfect place when i saw that doggy door

We pulled into the RV park a week ago, after driving around for a bit, we settled on this spot near the top of the hill, backed up against the trees behind us.

After a couple of days, John decided that the small tree branch behind had to go; I guess it was rubbing or something on the back of the RV. So he gets out his trusty ax and chops away that branch and whatever other under-brush that he didn’t like.

Well, a couple of days later we had a rain storm. It was a nice gentle rain with hardly any wind, though there was thunder and lightening. I am not use to thunder and lightening, in California where I have spent most of my life we didn’t have thunder and lightening except very occasionally

We were in the rig enjoying the evening. The sun had gone down; it goes down  about 7:00 and dark by 7:30 here in Hershey, PA at this time of the year. When suddenly we hear wham! We look at each other with the thought on our lips.  What was that! John goes outside (after all he is the man) to see what the noise was. He comes back in saying that he doesn’t see anything. We both shrug our shoulders and continue watching TV, playing on our computers, and stuffing our faces. And yes we can do all of this at the same time!

The next morning we get up and start our day. John goes outside, wondering around  or whatever it is that he does out there. I think it is to patrol the grounds, looking for something to protect me from.  He is not out there very long before he calls me to come out and look. Of course, I am not doing anything important enough to prevent me from stopping it and rushing out to view this wonderful sight that awaits me!  I should have stayed inside!

He shows me this large branch that those evil trees behind us threw at the RV. One of them manage to make a direct hit! I could see the end of the branch sticking through the awning of the RV. I’m sure that I could hear those trees whispering softly - take that dang you -  or maybe it was just the wind softly rustling their leaves.

Friday, Sept. 28, 2007

We are here in Hershey, Pennsylvania – we will be staying here for three weeks: 9/14 – 10/14. We are staying at a RV park that is included in the roster of a RV club that we have a membership in– so the price is right! Thousand Trails Parks – Hershey Preserve.

This is a nice park, situated on a hilly area; it has lots of green grass and lots of trees - oak & maple trees galore; lots of squirrels here, after the acorns , I guess.

  The blue RV in the above photo is ours.   Our toad (white car in rt lower corner and our Katherine’s wheel flying high!

It is a large park with 50 amps! And full hookups wow! In RV parks - this is King! Ah Heaven!

This means that waste water runs down into the city/county waste outlets instead of into our tanks! And water, I can use the washing machine, take a shower and run water in the sink- all at the same time !(that is if I could be in two places at the same time)

It also means that there are no restrictions on how much electricity is available at a time, in most parks we have to keep track of the amount of electricity that we use at a time via a control panel that shows the amps being used.

Most parks are older parks and are wired with 20 – 30 amps. The newer Motorhomes love 50 amps. Just think, I can use the microwave or the convection oven; have the washer going and the electric fry pan and the crock pot all at the same time.

The only bad thing is that the RV is backed into the trees/brush behind us; not letting me have the use of my clothesline; but since we have the 50amps it is no big thing I can use the dryer part of the washing machine without worrying about blowing a fuse. But I do love to hang things on the line, out in the fresh air. John has rigged up a frame that he hangs on the ladder that is attached to the back of the RV

People are always very friendly in RV parks; and this park is no exception. A few people are walking about the park, getting their exercise, and visiting with the folk in the campsites. It is common for people to wave to each other from cars or motorhomes, stopping frequently to talk to someone either in a vehicle or in another campsite.

Strong, life long friendships have developed after meetings in a RV park. Some folk have even married after both couples have lost their partner. Sometimes we will meet a person who seems very lonely, after getting to know them, we find out that they have lost their spouse and are still on the road. We have met many folk that continue this life style after they have been left alone – some from divorce or the death of their spouse. It seems to me that the ladies that I have met that are now single seem to take to this lifestyle better then the guys in the same situation. The ladies seem happy and are getting on with their life, whereas some of the guys appear very lonely.

So this is a little glimpse of the on going life of a nomad in a motorhome.

Sorry!  It has taken me so long to get a posting up! But I have a good excuse. ahem.  I have had quite a lot of difficulty with my computer; hopefully I have “fixed” the problem or rather muddled through fixing the problem. It would lock up, (it still may) sometimes  turning itself off and even sometimes restart all by itself. I was beginning to think that I had a ghost in this RV!  Well hopefully I have it fixed now! Do you know how frustrating it is trying to do something on the computer and have it suddenly do one of the fore mentioned things? I think I pulled out half of my hair!  

On the way from Washington (State) seeing  Susan; we made a layover in Sioux City, SD; where we changed our state of residence from Texas to South Dakota. We (John & I) took the tests and received our new SD driver licenses on the spot; (amazing short lines to wait in) new licenses plates & tags for the RV and the car (which we call our Toad - short for “towed vehicle”) of course this took longer to receive as they had to get the paperwork from the loan companies for the titles on said vehicles.

In Wisconsin we spent a week seeing my younger sister. Had a really nice time and was sorry that we had to move on; but the open road was calling; we had places to go; things to see and a date set to be in Ohio by a certain day. We traveled on to Michigan; while in Michigan visiting at Hank’s house (John’s brother) we were parked on a cement slab that was next to his house. This gave us a good view of the street in front of his house (got to watch everyone that came and went on that street) and the field across the street. This field was the pasture for ponies, a mule and lots of sheep. I would wake up early and wonder out to the front window in the couch, sit in the passenger seat and drink my coffee and look out the window at this scene. It is very relaxing watching this everyday event taking place. I enjoyed it very much and miss it now.  We had time to visit this wonderful place  Ford’s Greenfield Village with John’s sister. We rode on the model A’s or T’s or whatever they were. yeah, that’s me in the red; also got a ride in the horse drawn carriage.  We had a wonderful time while we were there! There was all kinds of things to see; way to much to see in a single day; old type villages; farms; museums of just about anything you could want to see;

We examined a round house train station where the trains were repaired in the days of yester-year.

It was a wonderful day.

Hello all

I am beginning to believe that this bad weather – very strong winds/ tornados/hail is following us around! While we were up in Washington visiting Susan, a wild wind/rain storm arrived and blew down lots and lots of trees; knocking down electric lines/poles putting out the lights for over a week in some areas. Lucky for us no one we knew was hurt; but there was lots of damage done in the area.

Then in South Dakota; more rain/wind and this time hail the size of baseballs fell on Rapid City the day after we left. We were at the Winnebago Plant in Iowa, when we heard about the RV’s that were coming in from Rapid City that was hit by the hail; we heard that there was lots of damage

Stopped in Wisconsin to see my sister, left there as the rain was coming our way again. Heard about the heavy flooding left in our wake!

Got to Michigan,. There is a tornado warning siren across the street from where we parked our RV., Within a day or two from our arrival that darn thing did its thing! Would you believe how loud that siren can be and how long it can throb! I had noticed a large black cloud (really huge) (did I say really huge – wrong – it was immense) coming rapidly toward us; that was about the time that that siren went off! So what did I do; I went into my brother-in-law’s house, he was there sitting watching TV; the news broadcast was on about the tornados and heavy winds and again hail north of us. I asked him if we could get into his basement, it has been sort of closed off. He said yes; so there we all sat watching TV; my husband , brother-in-law & myself.. The wind came up, the sky all the way to the ground filled with water so thick it looked like fog. In the after math we discovered that a few trees had fallen over and Fenton (to the north of us) had been hit very hard.

We will be going down to Indiana in a couple of weeks! So all of you living/visiting there you had better get out of our way!

 

You’re supposed to tag five other people who will be annoyed that you tagged them, but I honestly can only think of four people to tag.

Gawilli at  Back in the Day

Jay at Cynical Bastard

Kelli at Circus Kelli

Mrs Darling at Dishpan Dribble

4 things that should go into room 101 and be removed from the face of the earth.

1. Cancer - My sister is a survivor of Ovarian Cancer and just yesterday, my niece’s  14 month old baby - Abby went to dance and sing with the angels in heaven.
2. Trash mail -  It comes from who knows where and ends up in the trash and now they are going to be charging a dollar for each and every name that you want to add to the “don’t receive mail from” list.

3. Clutter - it grows everywhere and is almost impossible to eliminate,  the more you remove it the more that takes its place. It clings to some people until they come into my rig and then it falls off! And of course none of it is mine! Ha Ha
4.  Heat -  Real hot weather   I hate to be so hot that I would like to run around naked but that would cause a riot and extreme sunburn.

3 things that people do that make you want to shake them violently.

1.  Light cigarettes and smoke them among other people; having little or no regard to what their cast off smoke must be doing to the other people around them.

2.  Moving/sliding in front of me (or trying to) when I am trying to see something in front. (I am short so-) 
3. Weaving back and forth in traffic, sometimes tailing so close that one might think they were trying to get a sniff.

2 things you find yourself moaning about.

1.  That a very young child (see #1 above ) has to suffer so much. Where is this kind, forgiving, Father that the masses talk about that this can let or cause such a thing to happen to one so innocent?

2.  That our rig/RV gets so cluttered. I keep saying that I need to find a place for every thing and try to keep everything there!

1 thing the above answers tell you about yourself.

That I have nothing new to complain about except for GOD and his mysterious ways. I have known all this other stuff since time began!

RULES• This from Lynne - and so I am passing it on! (I was supposed to link to the original meme, but that link kept locking up my computer and the first time I wrote this entry I lost it all because I tried to link to the original. So, I am NOT going to do that in case it locks up your computer too.)
• Be as honest as possible so people get to know the real you!
• Try not to insult anyone - unless they really deserve it or are very, very ugly!
• Post these rules at the end of every meme.

So that it! That’s my Rant Meme.